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xSander writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a federal judge in San Jose, CA to rule that Universal abused the DMCA to take down a video of a toddler dancing to a Prince song. The case in question, whose oral argument will be Tuesday, October 16, is Stephanie Lenz vs. Universal, a case that began back in 2007. Lenz shared a video on YouTube of her son dancing to 'Let's Go Crazy' on a stereo in the background. After Universal took the video down, Lenz filed a suit with help of the EFF to hold Universal accountable for taking down her fair use. The court had already decided that content owners must consider fair use before sending copyright takedown notices."

Oooh, Oooh how about 3 strikes. The media companies love it so much; what if they got 3 strikes? If they issue 3 DMCA take down requests that get overturned as failing to consider fair use, they loose the right to issue take down requests.

I predict that a fraction of a second after such a law took affect most companies' bots would issue bad requests. A few months later the courts would rule that 3 of them were in valid, and all of big name rights owners would loose the right to issue take down notices. Then the word becomes a better place and I can watch the Curiosity landing!

My business model is similar to breathing, but I don't control what other people choose to breathe. But when they walk by my store and breathe in the aroma of my scented candles and then walk away without paying, how fair is that? People should not expect the government to just hand out entitlements like healthcare, housing, food stamps, disability and SSI, but we do need a system of entitlements for those of us who actually pay taxes to protect our rackets. We have patents, copyrights, and contracts, but that is not enough. It's about time for government to protect our aroma property rights as well. Who's with me?